Interesting knife

I receive this knife yesterday, for Father's Day, and I thought I'd share, because I think the construction is interesting.

(When I say "received it for Father's Day", it's because I saw it in an antique shop the day before and asked my wife to pick it up for me....)


It looks home-made -- which is what appealed to me:  note the un-polished wooden grip, for example.  But the construction also appealed to me.

There's an extra piece of metal that forms part of the spine of the knife.  But it's asymmetrical:  in the above photo, you can't see it from the right-hand side;  viewing the knife from above, you can see that the extra bulk is all on the left-hand side.

And, here's the other side:  it looks a little primitive or un-refined -- which again, I'm fine with.

Anyone know if the extra piece of metal has a purpose or function, beyond simply stiffening the blade?  Is is there a purpose or advantage to having it asymmetrical?


I like the knife, by the way -- but it won't see much use.  I'll probably end up using it in my workshop as a utility knife, such as bevelling the ends of dowels.


UPDATE:  My brother suggests:  looks like it was made out of an existing blade that had a flange on it.  for example, my scythe blade.  or a lawnmower blade.  grandpa t made a machete pout of a lawnmower blade


Yep; makes sense.  Funny, though, how they couldn't be bothered to grind it off -- or at least blend it in a little.

It's still a charming, quirky knife, though.  :)


--GG

Mod your tools

I just finished this mod yesterday.  (The butter knife is just to provide a sense of scale.)


My parents have two kitchen knives that are about the length of paring knives, but with narrower blades.  I've always liked them for coring apples, because the narrower blade allows you to make sharper turns.

About a month ago, I decided that I wanted one for myself, for when I core apples at home.  I had a look at various speciality cooking shops, here in Brisbane (Australia), but couldn't find these.  So I did a bit of a web search, and I think they're "boning knives" -- but because they're a little specialized, I couldn't find any at a price I wanted to pay.


So:  the red-handled and green-handled examples are five dollar paring knives, which I ground down the blades and then sharpened.

They work well. 


Mod your tools.  :)


--GG

All sorts of useful knives

I just discovered this from this woodworking blog entry:


A knife-selling website. Loads o' different types of knives: oyster knives, pocket knives, utility knives.

Supposedly of good quality, and good prices. And I think made in the U.S.A.

Haven't tried it myself, though.


--GG